Saturday, May 26th, 2012, Tom Heilman

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 28

Wow - cruised through this puzzle, rare on any given Saturday, but I just got back from the bars and hanging with the guys, and I am really tired~! It always helps when you score the first word of the grid, though - real confidence booster. Triple stacks of 7's in the corners, and a grid spanner;

36A. Is having unending bad luck : CAN'T CATCH A BREAK - most likely the seed entry;

and two 10-letter climbers;

12D. Take too far : OVEREXTEND - see 29A

28D. Feature of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" : CANNON FIRE - I love this composition, the way it builds and subsides; I have this version; the cannons are powerful enough to blow out matches if you hold them in front of the speakers (so you know now what I did one semester in college)....if you care to, here's a link to the 15+ minutes with chorus and cannons

Onward ~!

1. Exchanged : SWAPPED

8. Hiking hazard : DROP OFF - we talked about this last week

15. Caesar salad basic : ROMAINE - CROUTON fit, too

16. "Grease" in the '90s, say : REVIVAL

17. Small cinema, nowadays : TRIPLEX - what if you parsed this as Triple X ~???

18. Tree-lined walkway : ALAMEDA - I know of the city; here's an image of the actual definition

19. Adams with a Hasselblad : ANSEL - photographer, and his camera - a page of his spectacular images

20. Mrs. Fields brand : TCBY - The Country's Best Yogurt

22. Game to pursue : PREY

23. Places to see buckjumpers : RODEOS - none for me, thanks

25. Brewers, e.g., briefly : NLers - Baseball, the teams here - C.C., did they move from the AL~? (C.C.: Brewers was in American League until 1997. They were called Seattle Pilots when first created, then Selig bought them and moved the team to Milwaukee.)

26. Geometer moth caterpillar : INCHWORM - there was one on my sheets just the other day

29. Final crossing? : STYX - I was going to put this in, thought "nah", and then I got 12D

30. Three-division sports gp. : NCAA

31. Family reunion attendees : NIECES - WAG

33. Builder of Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft : TRW - yes, the same as the credit company

39. Royal son of comics : ARN - Prince Valiant

40. Surgical tool : STYLET

41. Certain Caltech grad: Abbr. : ENGineeR

42. Little TV redhead : OPIE

44. Balanced : EVENED UP

46. Gals : JANES - Dah~!! This one had me going - I have never heard of 46D

48. Set : HARDEN

49. Graceless sorts : OAFS

50. Possibility that's not an option : NO-NO - this was "meh" for me

51. Bar basic : LAGER - not Vodka - I had neither tonight - I left the sloppy drinking to the others, and drove them all home safely

55. Examined the look and feel of : TRIED ON

57. Toscanini was its music director in the 1920s : LA SCALA

59. Waiting, to some : TORTURE - it is for me - traffic lights, shopping lines, getting a little "somethin', somethin' " - alas, not tonight....that is, no lass for me....or is that L'ass because it's me~???

60. Inward journey? : EGO-TRIP

61. Dosage specification : ONE A DAY

62. Pair of fins : TEN-SPOT - fins is slang for five dollar bills

DOWN:

1. Eur. title : SRTA

2. No longer mint : WORN

3. "The Anti-Death League" author : AMIS - More here

4. Party topper : PAPER HAT - not the rare fill I thought it was....

5. Where one might have a sinking feeling : PILLOW - the perps got this; otherwise, it would have been an "ugh" moment

6. Storm hdg. : ENE

7. Skill : DEXTERITY

8. Dull shades : DRABS

9. Depend : RELY

10. Biological duct travelers : OVA

11. Spotted in a troubling way : PIMPLY - Acne, har-har

13. Recording device applied to applause : FADER - I guess; as a musician who records, I know what this is - but my car stereo has one, also

14. Castigates : FLAYS - hey, now, let's not get DF here....

21. Tell the truth, finally : COME CLEAN - or here, for that matter....

24. Give away : DONATE

25. Federal org. with a "Safety Recommendations" Web page : NTSB - here's the page~!

26. Old empire builder : INCA

27. At 6,684 ft., Mt. Mitchell is its highest point : N. CARolina



29. Taken to a table : SEATED

32. Volt maker : CHEVROLET - all electric car - I prefer the Fisker, with it's gas engine designed to charge the batteries only

34. Prego rival : RAGU

35. Sitcom call letters : WKRP - I had -KR-, and was totally lost until I remembered what "call letters" were - radio station IDs

37. TV's Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle, briefly : CSIs - Crime Scene Investigators

38. Stages as it happened : RE-ENACTS

43. Pre-euro currency : PESETA

45. Author DeMille : NELSON - I like his stuff - especially his cop character John Corey

46. Word game : JOTTO - new to me - PHEW~! Dare to try ~!

47. John Carradine's role in "The Ten Commandments" : AARON - Dah~! I had -ARON, and was going through the alphabet - and skipped "A" altogether....

48. Colony's concern : HONEY - Bee colony

50. "A Doll's House" wife : NORA

52. Irving title writer : GARP

53. Film director Petri : ELIO

54. Mesmerized : RAPT

56. Fizzler : DUD - My NY Rangers hockey team turned out to a be a "DUD", losing to the NJ Devils tonight - and so Eddy, we are down to 4-7 games in the 2012 season. I will be rooting for the East coast, since my West coast choice, Vancouver, was eliminated in the first round.

58. __ limit : AGE

Answer grid.

Sadly, I must report that the opportunity to move to Las Vegas has fallen apart - but I have not given up on my plans to move out West - it's just going to have to wait a bit - I thank all of you who offered me a place to stay, and dinner ( AJ, HG ); I am still holding you to that offer~!!!

Splynter

Friday, May 25, 2012, Don Gagliardo and C. C. Burnikel

Theme: The Dynamic Duo see Double: Each single word verb (or gerund) has a middle letter doubled and the word split in two, with the remaining second word a four letter ING word. An interesting theme which revealed itself early, but a Friday chock full of fresh fill, some new words, some nice twists, and all we expect from our hometown heroes.

On with the show:

17A. Where to find joe at the hotel? : BRE(W) WING. Add a "W" and your coffee (beer) making (hi sons) because a wing in a hotel where they make coffee.

26A. Metal recycling center sound? : DUM(P) PING. Add a "P" and your recycling gets a sound.

35A. Bit of surfing damage? : BOAR(D) DING .Add a "D" and your surfing gets your board damaged.

49A. Gang of market pessimists? : BEA(R) RING. Add an "R" and you get a bunch on investors in a circle.

58A. Basketball contest champ? : DUN(K) KING. Add a "K" and you are LeBron James.

Across:

1. Plato's "T" : TAU. All Greek to me; I like a puzzle where I can start with a tau hold.

4. Golfing countryman of Sergio and Jose Maria : SEVE. Severino Baellesteros who sadly recently died while still young.

8. Petal oils : ATTARS. Learning moment for me, so I will give them a PLUG. Don't worry I did not get any 38A. Pay stub? : OLA. Payola.

14. Good times : UPS. Yes, in our manic/depressive world, we have our ups and downs.

15. Canned : AXED. No longer a literal way to terminate employment.

16. Big Apple musical attraction : THE METropolitan Opera. 64 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023.

19. 1980s Cabbage Patch Kids producer : COLECO. HISTORY. My mother-in-law, made them from the original pattern and sold them at the flea market on Sunrise before they were popular. The only dolls my boys had.

20. Pier gp. : ILA. International Longshoremen's Association. We see this union often. Nice peer/pier pun.

21. Clasp in a boardroom : TIE BAR. Have not worn ONE is years, also called tie tack.

23. Knock : RAP. hey do not knock the clue. marti, your RHAP music, too funny. You are the best.

24. When in Act I Hamlet's father's ghost first speaks : SCENE V. Loves me some SHAKESPEARE.(1:29)

28. Air intake spot : NOSTRIL. I nose this answer.

30. Address : SPEAK TO. Don't you speak to me like that!

31. NFL extra periods : OTS. Over Times.

32. Siouan language : OSAGE. All you need to KNOW.

34. "Illmatic" performer : NAS. Rhymes with JAZZ? (4:54)

40. Dirt : GRIME. How odd, as it is now next to NAS.

41. ISP option : DSL.Internet Service Provider Digital Subscriber Line.

44. Like C work : AVERAGE. We all work hard to see our writeups are not just average.

47. iPhone current events app : NPR NEWS. National Public Radio

51. Like string in cat's cradle : LOOPED. Took me years to master, It really

52. Bug : IRKed me.

53. Sister of Janet : LATOYA, of the Jackson family.

55. Rush find : ORE. I wanted MOSES but ti would not fit. I know it was the gold rush.

56. Muffle : DEADEN. Sound familiar?

61. Baby on a cliff : EAGLET. Not Claven.

62. "For here ___ go?" : OR TO? I'll have mine here, black.

63. Old pro : VET. Last week it was the doggie doctor.

64. Draft holders : STEINS. Yes the Stein family holds the biggest fantasy draft in all of South Florida. Oh, beer mugs, never mind.

65. Addams family nickname : TISH. I loved the ORIGINAL. (3:21)

66. Network logo since 1951 : EYE. HISTORY.

okay part deux, no not duh!

Down:

1. Soaking place : TUB. PRETTY GIRL. (partial nudity).

2. Jam fruit : APRICOT. The only fruit I do not like, I think it is:

3. Futile : USELESS.

4. Dated : SAW. Like this? LINK. (2:18)

5. Permit to leave the country : EXIT VISA. So much fresh fill, it is awesome.

6. Caesarean section? : VENI, VIDI, VECI. Classic misdirection.

7. Just beat : EDGED.

8. Where some kids spend summers : AT CAMP. HERE? (0:19)

9. 1912 Olympic legend : THORPE. A true American hero

10. Rolodex no. : TELephone.

11. Kafka novel : AMERIKA. LINK.

12. Takes back : RECANTS. Or is very careful with wine.

13. Like much rush hour traffic : STOPGO I have always seen stop'ngo

18. Desire : WANT.

22. Transported from another area, as a special work force : BUSED IN.

24. ___-Cat : SNO. Along with cone, another puzzle staple.

25. Switch back? : EROO. Switcheroo.

27. Twinge : PANG.

29. '70s-'80s Seahawks receiver Steve : LARGENT. Great WIDE RECEIVER.(3:28)

33. East Berlin was its cap. : GDR. German Democratic Republic. Really DDR. Kazie...

35. "Roseanne" star : BARR.

36. Some dental work : IMPLANTS. I wonder if they started this clue with teeth? (From C.C.: "Boob jobs" is our original clue.)

37. Fiddling tyrant : NERO.

38. Pig out : OVER-EAT.

39. Amount getting out : LEAKAGE. Wonderful word, like shrinkage.

41. Strip (of) : DEPRIVE. So if you give something are you priving?

42. Eliot's "___ Among the Nightingales" : SWEENEY. Nice to see some thing other than Cats from this POET.

43. '60s "trip" drug : LSD.

44. Puts up with : ABIDES. Had this last week as well, I guess I can stand the repetition.

45. "America's Funniest People" co-host Sorkin : ARLEEN. FAMOUS?

46. West Coast team : GIANTS. Baseball in San Fran.

48. Kindle rival : NOOK. I like my Kindle. I can increase font and read!

50. Literary no-show : GODOT. Beckett is still waiting, no not Kate.

54. Doctor Zhivago : YURI.

57. Half of MCII : DLI. I guess this all adds up.

59. ___-i-noor diamond : KOH. To rule the WORLD.

60. Verizon forerunner : GTE. General Telephone and Electronics.

Answer grid.

Well Guys and Dolls, time for me to roll up the sidewalk and off into the Florida midnight sun. Nice to see your grass Dennis. Nice to hear from you all. Lemonade.

Constructors' note:

Don came up with this idea while we were brainstorming our K-2 puzzle. It's challenging to make new phrases entertaining yet maintaining surface meaning. Again, we were a bit bold in our grid design and met a few challenges during the filling process.

Thursday, May 24, 2012 Bernice Gordon

Theme: The Boxer Rebellion.

Bernice Gordon turned 98 in January of this year! She usually constructs early week puzzles, so it is a great honor to write up this Thursday offering. Four grid-spanning theme entries define the common word BOXER, and she gives us a pangram just for good measure. Impressive!

17A. BOXERS : FIGHTERS IN A RING. Pow!

26A. BOXERS : SHORTS WORN BY MEN. Wow!

43A. BOXERS : POWERFUL CANINES. Bow!

56A. BOXERS : SHIPPING WORKERS. Now?

Marti here for your Thursday dissection. Let's see what Ms. Gordon has to offer us.

Across:

1. Pilgrim to Mecca : HAJI. One who had completed the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca is called a hajji (alternate spellings: haji, hadji).

5. Pop singer Miley : CYRUS. She gained fame as Miley Stewart / Hannah Montana on the Disney channel.

10. Window part : PANE. Damn you JazzBumpa! I automatically filled in "sill" without even looking at the downs!

14. Blackberry lily's family : IRIS

15. First lady before Michelle : LAURA. Bush. Michelle Obama.

16. Caddie's suggestion : IRON. My caddie's suggestion? "Take up tennis!"

20. They're seen on airport carousels : IDS. Identification tags on luggage.

21. Sculling tools : OARS

22. It gets into a lather : RAZOR. Fun clue, had me going for a minute.

23. Suggestion opener? : AUTO. Auto-suggestion, or the art of self-hypnosis.

24. Former Heathrow-based flier : BOAC. British Overseas Airway Company, merged with British European Airways in 1974 to form British Airways. And 59-Down - Merged Dutch airline : KLM. Can you say Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.? Now merged with Air-France.

33. Some coins : CENTS. Makes sense to me.

34. Holliday and a dwarf : DOCS. I love it when a plural proper noun can have such a fun clue.

35. Single : ONE. One hundred cents?

36. Join forces : ALLY

37. Corpulent : OBESE. That's just wrong...

39. Not perjured : TRUE

40. Padua possessive : MIO. Not Neapolitan? 3:22

41. One of the Marxes : KARL. I laughed out loud at this one - I went through all five Marx Brothers before I realized Ms. Gordon was pulling my leg!

42. Drawn weapon : SWORD. Did you read the article? She once got an editor fired writing a clue as "The ___ mightier than the sword..."

47. Extreme desire : LUST. What do you lust for?

48. Team that pulls together : OXEN

49. Bottom deck : ORLOP. Maybe Spitzboov can elucidate. Isn't that the deck where the crew usually sleeps?

52. Old Broadway title beau : ABIE. A Jewish fellow and an Irish Catholic gal marry, despite their family's objections. Hilarity ensues.

53. Canada's largest prov. in area : QUE.bec. Map, so you can see for yourself.

60. Hoard, say : SAVE. Anyone watch "Hoarders"?

61. "Air Music" Pulitzer winner, 1976 : ROREM. Ned.

62. Screened fuzz : LINT. Oh, great clue! Who just mentioned the other day, that they thought lint was composed of missing socks? C'mon...you know who you are!

63. Copied : APED

64. Q-tips : SWABS. We all know where not to put them!

65. ___ en scene: stage setting : MISE. From the French "to place".

Down:

1. Music maker : HI-FI. I filled in "Harp" from the "h" off HAJI. grr...

2. Nothing like swampland : ARID.

3. Lively dances : JIGS

4. Suffix suggesting degree : -ISH. Ish thish how I shpeak when I have had a great degree to drink?

5. Some athletic shoes : CLEATS. Do any of you other golfers still have metal cleats? Our course banned them long ago. I don't miss them at all.

6. Plant with feathery leaves : YARROW. I have some in my garden. Lovely!

7. It spans nine time zones: Abbr. : RUSS.ia. Here's the map. (Can't find 9? Check out the little teal-colored blip on the left side.)

8. Ocean State sch. : URI. University of Rhode Island. Gimme.

9. Leader of Jose and Juan? : SAN. Fun clue for a crossword staple. San Jose and San Juan.

10. Maritime crime : PIRACY. Don't sail off the coast of Somalia!

11. St. that turned 100 in February : ARIZ.ona. Oh! I was thinking of St. Valentine!

12. Forbidden thing : NO-NO

13. One working on the RR : ENGR. Abbr. for "Engineer". Working on the railroad.

18. Tipsters : TOUTS. One who "touts" his skill at predicting the outcome of races, and sells those tips to desperate bettors.

19. Most Lebanese : ARABS

23. Superficially cultured : ARTY

24. Family business abbr. : BROS. Brothers.

25. Start of a story : ONCE. upon a time...

26. Troublemaker : SCAMP

27. Sun: Pref. : HELIO

28. Keeping food warm, as an oven : ON LOW

29. Children's author Scott : O'DELL. Don't know him. I was more into Nancy Drew mysteries...

30. Dimwit : MORON. And 37-Down: Bozos : OAFS.

31. Habituate : ENURE

32. They can't be ignored : NEEDS. What do you need?

38. Cologne first launched by Faberge : BRUT

39. Baseballer named for two cities : TWIN. Minneapolis and St. Paul are the Twin Cities.

41. Essen industrial family name : KRUPP. 400-year old German dynasty of manufacturers. Not to be confused with the Krups coffee maker - that's a different family.

42. Look of scorn : SNEER. JazzBumpa, you explained "leer" and "ogle" so well yesterday!

44. Fled to Gretna Green, say : ELOPED. Gretna Green is the Las Vegas of Scotland.

45. Finespun trap : COBWEB

46. Self-evident truths : AXIOMS

49. Greek mount : OSSA. Mount Ossa. Beautiful!

50. Gershwin wrote one "in Blue":Abbr. : RHAP. I never knew Gershwin was into rhap music. 7:03

51. Risky, TV show-wise : LIVE. Other than the news, are any shows still "live"?

52. Indian city on the banks of the Yamuna : AGRA. India - city - four letters: agra.

53. Cunard flagship for 35 yrs. : QEII. Queen Elizabeth II. She was re-fitted to help the troops in The Falklands. Then she was revamped again and sailed until she was retired in 2008.

54. Samovars : URNS.

55. Tivoli's Villa d'___ : ESTE. This place. You can see why it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

57. Taxing org. : IRS. Thank goodness that's over for me this year. Anyone file an extension?

58. The present : NOW. This instant! (Sorry - gotta go!)

Answer grid.

Hugs,
Marti

Note from C.C.:

Here is a lovely picture outside Dummy Dennis' condo. He has his breakfast in the deck every morning. Heavenly!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Jack McInturff

Theme: "Where pride goeth." The first word of each theme answer can precede the word "FALL" to yield a good, in-the-language phrase.

17A. *It's lower during dry seasons : WATER TABLE. This is the level below which the ground is completely saturated. Of course, in dry weather it will be lower, and you'll have to dig a deeper well. WATER FALL: the world's highest is Venezuela's Angel Falls, AKA "Kerepakupai Vená."

23A. *Index that measures skin sensation : WIND CHILL FACTOR. Not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this. Very apt description, though. It's a measure of how cold windy air feels on the skin, as compared to a colder temperature in still air. WINDFALL: an unexpected, unearned, or surprising gain or advantage. This expression dates back to the bad old days when all land was owned by the nobility (a title category granted with no sense of irony) and the picking of fruit or felling of trees was forbidden. But anything blown down by the wind was fair game.

36A. *Road trip respite : PIT STOP. From the world of racing, where pit stops are for refueling and tire changes done in less than a minute, to the vernacular. When traveling the LW and I strategize according to the distance between highway plazas: 36 miles - I think we're OK; 62 miles - nope, we're stopping here. PIT FALL: a trap placed or dug into the ground that captures whatever wanders into it. In the vernacular, any hidden hazard.

38A. *Winter storm respite for some : SNOW DAY. School is closed on account of snowy weather. When a SNOW DAY is expected, some of the grandchildren have a ritual of placing white crayons on the window sills and wearing their pajamas backwards. It doesn't always work. SNOW FALL: just exactly what you think it is.

47A. *Knocked loopy : DOWN FOR THE COUNT. Not like this. Totally without hope, like a boxer knocked down for the referee's count of 10. DOWNFALL: A sudden loss of wealth, status, or reputation from a previously exalted position.

And the unifier; 58. Lag, and a hint to what the starts of the answers to starred clues have in common : FALL BEHIND. The expression should be self explanatory. And, literally, the word FALL can go behind the first word each of five(!) theme answers - two of them grid spanning. Good, solid tight theme. Pretty impressive - no?

Hi gang, JazzBumpa here. Let's see if we can get through this thematically rich puzzle without FALLING BEHIND.

Across:

1. First country you'd come to if you sail west from Mumbai : OMAN. Oh, man, I did not know that.

5. Soft wood : BALSA. Remember model airplanes?

10. Out of sight, perhaps : AFAR. Especially for the nearsighted.

14. Sex researcher Shere : HITE. She wrote many books, including The Hite Reports on male and female sexuality, and books of advice for women about good and bad guys.

15. Online commerce : E-TAIL. Everything on line is E-whatever. Word play on retail.

16. CBer's handle : NAME. 10-4 good buddy.

19. Minor quarrel : TIFF. I had SPAT at first.

20. Cockney abode : 'OME. An 'ouse isn't necessarily one.

21. Part of many a plot : ACRE. My plot is smaller than that.

22. Fallen orbiter : MIR. This low orbit space station was assembled in orbit by the Soviet union starting in 1986. It was used for experiments in biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology until its DOWNFALL on March 21, 2001.

29. Pseudonym preceder : AKA. Also Known As.

30. Lewd look : LEER. This is a sidelong glance with lewd, sly, and/or malicious intent. OGLE is more of an open stare.

31. Old MGM rival : RKO. Radio-Keith-Orpheum (not Olberman) Pictures, one of the big five from Hollywood's golden age. Performers in their films included Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Katherine Hepburn. RKO produced Citizen Kane and the original King Kong. "It was beauty killed the beast."

32. Support staff? : CANE. Clever clue. My M-i-L is a citizen who needs a CANE.

34. Burn slightly : SEAR.

35. A boater may rest on them : OARS. At the end of the race, a hearty boater may rest on his laurels.

40. Barbados, e.g. : ISLE. A sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles, of about 166 square miles. Traditionally, the local economy was based on the citizen's cultivation of sugar CANE. In the last few decades it has diversified into manufacturing and tourism.

41. Carry : TOTE. Here, a verb. Can also mean a bag in which to TOTE things. But, see 53A.

43. Roger of "Cheers" : REES. This Welsh actor. Can't say I remember him.

44. Earth-friendly prefix : ECO. What would an earth-hostile prefix be?

45. Yours, to Yves : A TOI. Bah - French!

46. Collected dust : SAT. Idle. Nice visual. Well, maybe not nice, but apt.

53. Add (up) : TOT. I was ready to call foul here, since this word really should be spelt the same as 41A. But, the online dictionary recognizes this spelling, so I'll have to (grudgingly) let it go.

54. Greenish blue : TEAL. I assume this is the eponym.

55. What a winner may have to break : TIE. The only possibility of bringing baseball into this puzzle. C.C. mentioned former Tiger Brandon Inge yesterday. Here is a TIE breaking grand slam home run with his new team. Brandon had 16 RBI's in a week, and is now sidelined with a groin injury.

56. Get hot : BOIL. Literally or figuratively.

61. BMW rival : AUDI. A couple of German cars getting hot in competition.

62. Feudal lord, or his subject : LIEGE. Strangely, the word is derived, via Old French, from the Middle High German ledic, meaning free, empty, or vacant. Go figure.

63. Treated, as a sprain : ICED. To keep the swelling down.

64. Bark site : TREE. On the outside.

65. Latin bears : URSAE. Some are big and some are little.

66. Like child's play : EASY. Do you think this puzzle is child's play?

Down:

1. "Yikes!" : OH WOW! Gee whillikers! Expressions of surprise, amazement or dismay.

2. "__ Vice" : MIAMI. Another TV show I never watched.

3. When many start fifth grade : AT TEN. Sure enough, Nate will be TEN in August, and starts the 5th grade in September.

4. Society page word : NEE. From the French, I believe. It refers to a married woman's maiden name, frex: Catelyn Stark, NEE Tully.

5. "You __!": "Yep!" : BETCHA! Yer durn tootin' I won't get political.

6. Pong producer : ATARI. The height of video gaming technology, back in the day.

7. Two-time Grammy winner Patti : LABELLE. One of Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards' Grammys was for Burnin', these twenty years gone. Great pipes.

8. RSVP part : S'IL. This is where French children place their crayons blanc, in hope for a jour de neige. No, wait, RSVP is short for répond s'il vous plaît, i.e. "respond, if you please." S'IL means "if." It does not please me.

9. Draft pick : ALE. Now this is more like it. Misdirection, playing on NFL draft day, but an experienced pub crawler will not be fooled.

10. Prank : ANTIC. Obsolete pranks from days of yore are antique ANTICS.

11. Movement to promote equitable commerce : FAIR TRADE. Good luck with that.

12. Bowling equipment mfr. : AMF American Machine and Foundary, founded in 1900. Does anyone have more 300 games than Boomer?

13. Court arbiter : REF. Basketball or tennis.

18. Dishonest scheme : RACKET. Not a loud noise, nor a tennis implement.

22. Mess up : MAR. Josh Hamilton's Harrison's bloop single with one out in the ninth messed up Justin Verlander's bid for a third no-hitter on Friday. I don't think he was very happy.

24. Saint-Saëns' "__ Macabre" : DANSE. Based on a poem by Henri Cazalis about an old - yep, you guessed it - French superstition that the Grim Reaper calls the dead forth from their graves at midnight on Halloween, and they must dance for his diabolical violin playing until dawn.

25. Car dealer's offer : LEASE. Mine is up in nine months. Maybe next time I'll buy.

26. Plant with fronds : FERN.

27. Gumbo pods : OKRAS.

28. Optimistic : ROSY. My ROSY outlook for the Tiger's prospects this year is slowly turning into ashes.

32. Kid in Westerns : CISCO. A TV show that I did watch.

33. When many dig clams : AT LOW TIDE. It's certainly more convenient then.

34. Animal trail : SPOOR. Any sign or trace that can be followed: prints, odor, droppings, bread crumbs, etc.

35. Be a debtor of : OWE TO. Straightforward.

36. Mottled : PIED. Like a piper or windhover, maybe.

37. "Beetle Bailey" dog : OTTO. Arf!

39. Ancient consultant : ORACLE. One who was divinely inspired to give good advice or predictions.

42. Dots : TITTLES. The dots over lower case letter i and j, and used as diacritical marks in other languages (frex: Hägar) are tittles. The things you learn . . . (<=== these are not TITTLES.)

45. Back, at sea : AFT. Go to the back of the boat, s'il vous plaît,.

46. Naval builder : SEABEE. No mere acronym, this is the proper name for a member of the Navy Construction Battalion, derived from the initials.

48. "Honestly" : NO LIE. Words that often precede or follow a LIE.

49. Hägar's comics wife : HELGA. Lovely lady.

50. Erie Canal city : UTICA. In New York.

51. Dressed to the __ : NINES. Being rather informal, I generally only dress to the sevens.

52. Brother of Jack and Bobby : TEDDY. Kennedys

56. Night flier : BAT. Or a member of the Louisville AAA baseball team. I've seen them play the Mud Hens.

57. Sharer's word : OUR. Yours and mine.

58. Winter woe : FLU. Influenza, AKA the miseries.

59. Get out in the open : AIR. A nudist camp is a place where men and women go to AIR their differences.

60. Make haste : HIE. In order to not FALL BEHIND. A crossword stalwart.

Answer grid.

Well, despite my grousing, I liked this puzzle a lot, had fun blogging it, and got to work in more baseball that I first thought, and even a little music. (BTW, Nate's team won 8-6 last night.) Hope you like it, too.

Cheers!
JzB

Interview with Andrea Carla Michaels

Andrea Carla Michaels is a specialist in early-week puzzle. In fact, out of 32 puzzles she constructed for the New York Times, 16 are Mondays and 5 are Tuesdays.

I've mentioned before that it's hard to make early week puzzles. The themes have to be simple but fresh. The fill have to be familiar words/phrases. It's not uncommon for constructors to re-do a section or two just to remove a word editors consider a bit too hard for Monday/Tuesday grids.

Andrea is so good at producing smooth grids with fun entries. It's obvious that she always has her fans and solvers in mind when creating crosswords. She is also one of the most bubbling, encouraging and caring constructors I've never met.

Many solvers (myself included) missed the increase in size in your "Body of Water" puzzle last Monday. Has this happened before, where solvers failed to fully grasp the subtlety or extra layer of your theme?

Um, I would say that happens in every puzzle I create! But that's ok, I throw in lots of stuff to please myself (pangrams, increase in size of water in order, putting SHMEAR over the word BAGEL). I make them for others, but thank god for the blogs, before them, I'd never have known if anyone did them, much less notice the subtle touches. I tell myself folks are appreciating them on a subconscious level ;)

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into crossword construction?

Been doing crosswords all my life. Started making them by putting in friend's names and making birthday puzzles. Started with making them for TV Guide and Disney Adventures, inching my way up to the NY Times about 10 years ago...and the LA Times! I try and teach others how to make them as well. Only in the past few years have I started collaborating (and now have collaborated as often as solo efforts past 5 years!) so I had to learn how to use a computer in order to share info.

What mistakes did you make when you first started constructing and what advice would you give to budding constructors?

I was unaware there were rules as to how many black squares, how many words were allowed. I would save old grids from Monday-Wed and then fit my themes into them, adding a black square here, subtracting one there...so I actually had one in the LA Times with 80 words, a total

no-no...but who knew?

How would you describe your puzzle style? What kind of theme and entries fascinate you the most?

Well, I'm definitely a Monday gal! No matter WHAT day of the week I make (I have had a few Sundays, all with partners who carried me, gridwise) they get published Mondays. So I guess my style is easy. I've been told they are smooth, light, breezy (yay blogs!) but usually they are something fun I've noticed about film titles, or taking usual clichees and finding a threesome (now foursome, as four is the new three) that work together.

Which part do you normally spend the most time on in the construction process: theme brainstorming, gridding or cluing?

My cluing has to be straightforward, as I'm a Monday gal, as I've said. So I owe a huge debt now to Crossfire that Michael Blake forced me to learn. I now scroll down and find the clue I WOULD have written and click on that. So what used to take me days to type up, I can now do in 20 minutes! So the longest time is probably spent on brainstorming, finding a perfect third phrase to go with one or two I've stumbled across. Most of it is serendipitous...so when folks ask me how long it takes me to make a puzzle, I usually say "50 years!" bec I'm drawing on things that have slowly accumulated throughout the entire time of my existence on earth!

What is the most memorable puzzle you've made and why is it so special to you?

One of my first puzzles for the NY Times, maybe it was my first puzzle? was one on Earthquakes. I had SANANDREASFAULT going across the middle with EARTHQUAKE above and AFTERSHOCK below. I asked Will (Shortz) if he could make it look like a tear ran thru

it, to have it look like an earthquake had happened. He shifted the middle squares up a tiny bit and the next ones down a little. But folks thought something was wrong with their paper and didn't do it (bec you had to solve to get it that it was supposed to look all funky) and in the electronic version, they couldn't shift the squares so it looked super straightforward and lost the zing. Also it was a dream come true to have a Sunday puzzle, and Patrick Blindauer, whom I've collaborated on many larger puzzles which have been in the NYT and the WSJ, made that happen a few times over. My favorite was to have one where there were dozens of words with the letters ANT in them. I suggested to Patrick that the black squares look like paths thru an ant farm...within hours he sent a grid with the note "Do you mean like THIS?" The man is a genius! I also love a puzzle I got all the names of the cast of GILLIGANSISLAND (running across themiddle) Will said they all had to be the real names OR the character names but couldn't mix both. As miracles would happen, GILLIGANSISLAND was 15 letters across, and six of the cast members had parallel number of letters in their names!!! There are all sorts of puzzles I've loved but that's what comes to mind.

What puzzles do you solve every day and which constructors do you find most inspiring?

I usually only do one puzzle a day, I'm sorry to say. I do the NYT. But I do the LA Times at least once a week when a friend has made it, plus it appears in my local San Francisco Chronicle. It's not a snobby thing, it's a time thing.

Besides crosswords, what are your other interests?

I'm an avid film goer (mostly foreign films and documentaries. I play a ton of Scrabble semi-professionally, sometimes I teach a class in it.

My heart is in volunteer work, I work at various soup kitchens and visit with the elderly. Many friends died young from AIDS and that is close to my heart...they are not forgotten. I try and volunteer for every day I work for $. Professionally I name companies and products, so my life is mostly words words words and trying to make the world a slightly less hungry and sad place. Not to end on such a serious note, but it's the truth! Crosswords are my true passion tho, and I'm a solver first, constructor second, tho the balance has tipped the other way of late!